NEW YORK, NY – Yachad, the Orthodox Union’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities, raised over $1 million in its first crowd-funding campaign yesterday.

At 1pm on December 20, Yachad kicked off its 24-hour campaign with a goal of $1 million, and within 24 hours, reached $1,053,008.

“I want to express my deep gratitude to all of our donors who supported this incredible endeavor,” said Ken Saibel, Associate Director of Yachad. “Through your generosity you enabled us to surpass our National goal of $1,000,000. Along with an incredibly dedicated staff team, hundreds of community members throughout each of our regions answered our call of #YesToInclusion. Through your support, we will be able to provide more services to our members and their families. On behalf of our entire staff, I want to extend a tremendous thank you our incredibly generous matchers and to the rest of the community for their overwhelming response.”

Since its establishment in 1983, Yachad has been a leader in the disability community, dedicated to addressing the needs of all Jewish individuals with and without disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in all aspects of Jewish communal life. Touching thousands of Jews with disabilities every year, through inclusion opportunities such as Shabbatons (weekend retreats) and summer programs, to vocational education and placement, Yachad’s staff educates and advocates for greater understanding, acceptance, outreach and a pro-disability attitude.

Jeff Lehman, a parent of a Yachad child in the New England chapter, encouraged the wider Jewish community to participate: “Those who donate to Yachad and don’t happen to have somebody in the family who is a participant: To me, those are more special people than those of us who are parents. Because those are people who can relate to others and see some of the benefits of Yachad without experiencing them directly.”

Yachad locations which participated in the crowd-funding campaign on Tuesday included the New York metro area (raising $242,113), New Jersey ($180,862), New England ($204,220), Chicago ($177,608), Los Angeles ($103,585) and South Florida ($101,120).

“Yachad is life,” said Pamela Shulman, a parent of a Yachad child. “It took an empty shell of a child and brought her to life.”

For more information, contact Becca Zebovitz at zebovitzb@ou.org / 212-613-8156.

Learn more about Yachad’s services at https://www.yachad.org/.